GTA V Pinnacle mod includes amazing visual and gameplay enhancements

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Many gamers with access to both consoles and a gaming PC like to wait for certain games to come to the PC before they take the plunge. It can take a while, as it did in the case of GTA V, but the mods can make the wait worth it. There’s a new mod for GTA V that validates that choice called The Pinnacle of GTA V World Enhancement Project. It’s a complete reskin of the game. The mission content is unchanged, but the look and feel are completely different.

This single mod encompases changes to virtually every visual aspect of the game, as well as some of the gameplay. There’s a full feature list on the mod’s website, but some of the highlights include a revamp of the weather system and a big improvement in the quality of reflections and shadows. The mod also adds entirely new textures to the game, replacing the ones Rockstar created. These are all in 4K and cover things like vehicles, weapons, and even the pavement. Weapon behavior and physics have gotten an overhaul too with more believable and detailed damage to the world around you.

On the gameplay side, all the vehicles have been retuned to behave more realistically. In the stock game, even an old junker can reach pretty impressive speeds and make tight turns that are outside the realm of possibility. In some ways that makes sense for a video game, but Pinnacle is going for immersive reality. Thus, the vehicles have more believable top speeds, weight, handling, and crash physics.

The distribution and behavior of NPCs is altered in Pinnacle as well. The number of people you see on the streets will vary based on the time of day, and even the day of the week. Police will show up on patrol in more realistic ways, and the way they interact with gangs and civilians is more authentic. You might happen upon a shootout that you didn’t even start!

The Pinnacle mod is free to download, but you should set aside some time to work through the installation. It’s only about 1GB of data, but you’ll need to add mod frameworks to the GTA V directory and copy over new files. A program called OpenIV is also needed to painstakingly edit game files. There’s a 10 minute video detailing the installation process, but it might take you a lot longer if you run into problems. It’s recommended you make a backup of the entire GTA V folder in case you break things, so you’ll need 60GB or so of spare hard drive space.

So why doesn’t Rockstar just make the game look like this? Pinnacle and similar mods for other games are geared towards tinkerers with powerful systems. A commercial game needs to run on most gaming PCs and it can’t randomly break like mods often can.

There aren’t any firm minimum system requirements listed for the Pinnacle mod, but suffice it to say you need to have a powerful gaming PC. According to the modders, your system should be able to run the stock game reliably higher than 30 FPS with all the effects turned on to work with Pinnacle. If frame rates start chugging when it rains, you’ll have a bad time. If you have the power to run it, though, Pinnacle will probably be a very, very good time.

Tagged In

How much overhead does this add to the game in terms of resources used? Meaning how much performance increase is needed to enjoy the new looks, if any?

Plyphon

A lot

Yorgos

they’ve the same thing with many games… like most of bethesda’s

Knot Schure

FINISHING, the game….

Xengre

Might want to learn what “fixing” means. Google it or get a dictionary out.

Cxzcx Gsdgb

game doesn’t even have rain/water effects on cars. someone forgot to add it. hahahaha

Richard “Raptorian” C.

So. Beautiful.

random_name

“A commercial game needs to run on most gaming PCs and it can’t randomly break like mods often can.”
This still doesn’t answer the question. Why can’t they set the graphics really high, THEN give us the ability to turn down the graphics. Don’t remember Crysis holding back their graphics just because even the best computers struggled with it.

Richard “Raptorian” C.

True, or there should be like a “Unstable mode” or something. Add a message before enabling “Only for the top-of-the-line PC’s.”
Too bad consoles will never be able to do this, then again, I am not surprised xD

Knot Schure

Or have the setttings turn ‘red’ when the game has an idea it will run poorly.

A flashing message everytime frames drop below 25fps would be useful too for the complete idiots.

close

Because the extra quality needs extra work. An improved 4K texture needs more work than a standard lower res one. And since only maybe 5% of players will actually be able to enjoy those improvements the cost may not be justified.

Look at the car industry. Aftermarket tuning is a big thing. Why isn’t anyone asking why Mercedes or BMW aren’t selling you the car with the additional 200HP at the same price? Because it’s not worth their effort.

At some point some developer will implement the idea of charging you to activate some extra graphic details. Or to download a DLC with the extra content. But since only a handful of users would actually pay for it (and only PC gamers, anyway) then how are they supposed to turn a profit on this one?

Knot Schure

In answer to ‘who would pay for it’, see my other answer were I said I was just about to BUY the game, until I read the install was convoluted.

I hope that elucidates you.

close

Not sure which comment or what install is convoluted. GTA V install? Or the install of this mod? If it were coming from the original studio the DLC would not be convoluted to install.

Bd

Of course they did

Knot Schure

Ok, I’ll try to keep it simples.

I was only 40% interested in this game, due to they delay.

When I saw the new graphics, I was SOLD, however, I checked and it is not a simple matter / not without issues to run these mods.

And my life is short of time as it is, let alone effing around with some computer game…

close

Well… yeah, third party mods will have to work around some issues that an official mod would not have to. So assuming the studio wanted to have the same results you wouldn’t have to jump through hoops for this. You’d either have it integrated into the game or via a DLC that installed seamlessly.

And given the almost insignificant number of gamers who can actually run this game in 4K with that kind of realism I don’t see games going for it anytime soon.

e92m3

You’re engaged in a rather pointless discussion my friend.
This is not about logic. This is entirely about children trying to justify their purchases by having the option to run 4k textures, even though their console-level hardware chokes with 60ms+ frametimes, magically turned into ’60 fps solid’ on reddit.
‘pc master race’ kids… Lots of talking, no knowledge.

Knot Schure

But it DOESN’T come from the studio, or some DLC, so no thanks.

Vidya Wasi

It’s a trend of big companies to have the thinking “We know better than you, now shut up and give me your money!”
Microsoft, Apple, etc…
Interesting these companies are all american. A conspiracy?
Did NSA tell them to do this?

close

Car manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Opel or VW seem to also know what’s best for you and decide to stick with some arbitrary engine power output values for their cars even though AM tuning can easily and safely push it higher.

Interesting these companies are all German. A conspiracy? Did BND tell them to do this?

Or you could spend time in the real world for a change and realize that every company does this and every product is engineered to require as little investment as possible for the maximum profit possible. Basically they set up a compromise between what the user wants to get, what he wants to pay for and how much that will cost the developer. If an investment to improve one aspect doesn’t have the necessary profitability it’s scrapped. Making an AAA title burns through an enormous amount of cash. You don’t want to spend extra just so a couple of thousands of gamers can have some eye candy especially since as you see the work was done for free ;).

Every product out there is what the manufacturer think the consumers want. They “ask around” (do surveys), they evaluate the market, the costs and the benefits and they come up with a product and a price. This is how the real world works.

Knot Schure

With German cars, I’d be more worried about lies, liars, and dam liars.

I took my full-service-history, perfect condition 323bhp BMW to a renowned dyno company. 280bhp. Their dyno is calibrated by a guy flown in from the states at great cost.

Horrified, the dyno owner explained to me that all the companies were lying about their outputs to sell cars. He said the only cars of recent memory that lived up to their claimed output (and even had more), was the old Honda NSX – which blew me away, as I used to own one. For their claimed 273 bhp, he saw more than 300bhp.

So I asked, well if their product sheet says one thing, and they deliver another, surly that is a reason for a product return? He commented there was once a super rich Arab visiting once with his new Merc, and it would not make full power on the dyno, as it could electronically tell that it wasn’t moving…. He complained loudly enough that they took the vehicle back – the only case he knew of. But since you and I are not Arab royalty / oil money, I doubt we would ever get the same service.

close

Well my point was less about actual cars :).

But to be off-topic, different manufacturers report different numbers (in addition to the obligatory inflation). Some report power at the wheel, others at the crank. Additionally, using gasoline with lower RON will reduce the output.
Last but not least, direct injection engines lose more power over time than engines with port injection or in the intake manifold as soot deposits on the injectors. So to give you a specific example a car that was tested on a dyno when new and had 410HP (rated 420HP at the crank) was down to 398HP after just 35.000Km. It was maintained “by the book”, premium fuel, after an injector and valve cleaning it was back to normal.

The more tech the engine has the more “sensitive” it becomes.

But the point was they settle on the number that can be achieved with the least effort but brings the most money. 80/20 rule. It also applies to game development. No point in invest a sum into something that doesn’t return that sum plus a good profit margin.

e92m3

…..
Ever heard of rear-wheel horsepower? The biggest liars in terms of actual output vs. published specs come from vehicles ‘produced’ in the US.

Interestingly enough, it’s not the re-badged cars with non-American engines and designs that exhibit the problems the most. It’s the ‘home-grown’, low specific output bullshit they produce here that really takes the cake in terms fake specifications.

The situation you describe above is fully within the range of drive-train loss. Actually, it points to a rather efficient drive-train.
When you’re looking at a 50-70+ hp deficit from factory crank output specs, that’s when you’re seeing the real liars in the industry.

Also, why the hell do they need to fly anyone in from the states to calibrate their dyno? That sounds like bullshit. We are infested with terribly calibrated dynos here, seemingly de-calibrated to match American manufacturer lies.

Knot Schure

Hold onto your internet there child. I’ve told no lies.

Back under your bridge I told you…

Knot Schure

I fly around the world working on technical equipment, am I full of bullshit too?

I fill passports all the time… seen so many countries. Incidentally, hello from Phuket.

So I hardly see your point regarding the calibration technician at all.

Sam Doohan

Wow you guys have zero perspective.

Why don’t they make the game this shiney? Because it’s a waste of development time and resources. The game industry is already spending vast sums of money on graphics and you want them to spend even more to serve the smallest imaginable segment of the market? AAA games already have an insanely high break even point and you want to drive that even higher so a fraction of one percent of users can get a ‘super-ultra’ notch to turn things up to? How can you even imagine that’s a good use of developer time?

A far better use of limited resources is to make sure your game looks good and plays well on as much hardware as possible. Better optimization and better testing leads to a better experience for far more people. And no matter how pimp the developers make their game the modders are always going to find some way to make it pimper anyway.

Kyle

Loving the photo-realism that’s finally starting to make its way into games. It’s mostly mods right now, but it shows the potential is there to go mainstream.

In another five years, it will pair extremely well with VR.

Richard “Raptorian” C.

:D

Knot Schure

I don’t think I”m ever going to sit in my home with VR glasses on.

I have 3D on my TV, and whilst it looks amazing, I don’t think I’ve used it in a year…

IKROWNI

Not sure that you can compare an image barely having a realistic 3d effect to a completely immersive vr setup.

Knot Schure

OK, try this – I’m not sitting in my home with others around, with glasses, or a helmet etc on.

some dude

Yeah but try this, I’m sitting in my home with others around, with glasses or helmet etc on and fighting dinosaur, alien zombie etc

IKROWNI

I can’t wait to play ark with the oculus rift on. Will look so amazing.

e92m3

lol.
Ark will not be decently playable on VR without major overhauls or very low fidelity settings. They didn’t and don’t seem to have any tangible grasp of dx12, which is likely to be intrinsically important for providing comparatively decent performance to titles that adopt the SDK and utilize the VR-specific features correctly.

They are skilled at working roughly within the confines of the engine as it is provided. They will not be on the forefront of quality VR design and performance.

Knot Schure

And right on – you are entitled to enjoy doing so.

Just not for me.

IKROWNI

Nobody said you had to. I’m certainly not holding a gun to your head to do it. I’ll wear mine proudly with a smile ear to ear as I trounce around in ARK. I for one have no problems with being telephoned into the game and being able to see and do all of the things I’ve always wanted to in a game.

Watch movies with friends and family in your own personal IMAX theatre in 4D, or actually have the view of different characters in movies and feel as if your part of the movie.

Use augmented glasses while working on my car or fixing stuff around the house if I need help or instructions on something.

I have friends that live over 1600 miles away I would love to be able to take advantage of what all of this has to offer in the near future.

So yea in other words have fun living in the past.

Knot Schure

And I will, thanks. With the ability to talk and see the faces of those in the room with me.

Tom

I get where you’re coming from. That said, if your issue is those around you, VR is going to be more social-centric than you think, though.

What about circumstances where there aren’t other people around? With no distractions, are you still not interested?

Have you tried VR? Proper VR, like Elite:Dangerous with a DK2? Let me tell you, no 3D TV compares. Not even close. It’s profound. Unfortunately, there’s no way to really put into words just how frigging awesome it is – you really do have to experience it for yourself.

I think that will be VR’s biggest hurdle, since if you haven’t tried it and aren’t interested, you are not alone – there are vast numbers of people who would probably love VR if they could only be convinced to give it a try.

Ekard

If you are playing a game while you have others around, I highly doubt having a goggles or a helmet on would make much difference. Least for me, my focus during gaming makes it difficult to keep up with conversations outside of the game (which is why when I get a phone call or someone stops by I pause if able or tell them I will be a minute and get to a stopping point).

Kyle

I love the idea of VR, and I will probably love my first VR headset to death. However….I’m inclined to agree with your below comments that I wouldn’t do it with people around.

As big and clunky as these things are, that sort of interaction is best left until a more compact and streamlined looking version of the technology comes out.

For now, it will remain a private adventure. And one strictly for my computer chair, and not a couch.

Will Ovtuth

+1…. I don’t own it yet and was waiting for a good sale to pop up before grabbing it, but mod packs like this truly make me rethink that. I’m a graphics whore just like most serious gamers but what intrigues me more about this mod is the changes to the gameplay, physics, AI routing etc….. that’s what makes the game much more desireable and shows you how much the studio cut corners to get it out and rake the loot in. Theirs no reason why they shouldnt have done this and it adds so much to the enjoyment of the game on every platform regardless of the graphics, which are the icing on the cake with this mod. For what it adds I think taking he extra time to implement it, if your rig is capable, is a must and once again we have to give a big thank you to the mod community for finishing another triple A title ball drop.

IKROWNI

They focused all of their efforts on making the game capable of running on antique consoles instead of focusing on making the best game possible. That’s why consoles can’t die fast enough. They don’t breed good competition they just slow and halt future innovation.

Kwuarter

Not gonna lie this fooled me thinking these were IRL photos until I figured out the car was from GTA V.

Zunalter

Wow, bravo mod makers.

John Montemarano

Still doesn’t look as great as Drive Club or The Order 1886. The pedestrians look a bit cartoony. A multi-plat still has yet to reach the realism of a PS4 exclusive, but that’s hard given the various hardware configurations they have to account for.

Knot Schure

Er, what?!?

You think the PS4 is anywhere near as good as this? Honestly? Have I misunderstood you?

Scott Mewborn

It’s crazy what people can talk themselves into isn’t it?

It’s like someone shitting their pants because they couldn’t find a toilet with Microsoft or Sony emblazoned on the side, and then telling everyone that bitches about the smell that it’s cologne and that there is must be something wrong with their nose.

We smell you from here little Mr. Montemarano, and it smells like you need a change.

Knot Schure

F’kin hilarious!

IKROWNI

Yep as soon as we get rid of these pesky consoles holding back all the progress we will have games that look 10x better than this mod makes capable.

Think about it just cause 3 just came out and has almost the same graphics as the consoles. That’s pretty pathetic. And the only reason for this to happen is to drop the requirements for the game to be stable to the lowest branch in the hardware tree. It’s very unfair for those who take the time to build a gaming pc to take advantage of the millions of features the consoles lack and end up with shitty versions that the consoles run.

gameoholic007

And yet, consoles are what hold most the industry.

IKROWNI

The industry that holds back technological evolution.

Consoles do to gaming what religion does to science.

Does nothing but constantly throw wrenches in the gears of progress.

gameoholic007

Consoles have always been the main support of the industry, you take them away, the industry will collapse, pc’s would NEVER be able to hold it on their own, thats a given. Console’s, pc’s, and mobile’s make up our gaming industry these days, they need each other to exist (HINT: thats usually how a market works in the first place). Remember, consoles were here first to spin things off, nobody knew what a pc was lol. On top of that, it’s what consumers want……….and that is, plug in and play, and as long as that stays as a huge demand, consoles will be around. Also, it seems that a ton of consumers out there, don’t want to shell out over 1k for a gaming rig to play video games, which is one of pc’s biggest hurdles out of a few.

In conclusion, play your games on whatever you want, veriety is always a good thing, but stop bellyaching about one particular platform, when its thats particular platform that is pc gamings daddy, and at the helm of the works. The consumers/gamers have spoken, and the results show. Cheers, and happy gaming! =)

IKROWNI

I really don’t even know where to begin?

Consoles came before computers? Are fucking retarded?

Wrong pc came long long before consoles.

People want plug and play.

True which is why you just plug in your computer turn it on and play. And since you have an ssd in that bad boy it only takes about 1/4 the time to get into a game.

Consoles provide more value at a cheaper price?

Wrong a gaming pc can cost thousands less that a console over its lifetime. Just because of the game sales and not having to pay 2x for Internet.

The reason why consoles are so popular is because of the millions so of whiny little children that haven’t developed the brain to put together Legos let alone put a computer together.

The only time a pc is more expensive if you buy alien ware garbage.

Also 1 last fun fact.

There millions of more concurrent users playing on Steam at any given time than the consoles combined. So tell me again why couldn’t pc which looks better, costs less, has millions spent more functions make it without consoles?

I think steam is now up to like 112 million ACTIVE accounts. The consoles don’t even report their real numbers on active users. They combine every account ever add on any of their services as a total. Even if that account hasn’t been used in years.

Phobos

You turn your boring essays into pointless debates. Again and again you amuse me with your delusional thoughts.

IKROWNI

Name one thing I said that was delusional then show me hard facts proving me wrong. Let me guess you think consoles came before pc as well? And you say I’m the delusional one.

Phobos

Forgot to add denial as well and I could but why bother.

e92m3

Yes, that is basically a delusional statement.
Consoles/home-emulated arcade machines were for games. Personal computers were primarily designed for productivity. The ‘gameplay’ wasn’t at all comparable to downright non-existent on classic PCs.

e92m3

Hmmm, I think the consoles and arcade machines from the 70’s and 80’s would like to talk with you…
Personal computers were almost entirely focused on productivity at the time.
So yes, consoles are what launched and maintained the game industry.

Ed

Seriously ? LMAO…you internet professors are hilarious…try Google dude…PC games were the precursor to arcade games…

Ed

LAMO…god I hope that was meant as humor…

Vidya Wasi

Too bad it only looks good in still images and with only cars in the picture.

Knot Schure

Another what?!?

There is nearly 10 mins of Youtube gameplay there that looks incredible.

Or didn’t you read the article?

Vidya Wasi

Based on my comment you should have deduced I did read the article and watch the video.

Looks terrible!
Too much repetition. Not enough randomness. Just look at the water spots on the road for an example.

IKROWNI

So are you saying that all of the “extra” randomized features that were added with this mod weren’t good enough or are you saying it was better before the mod?

Either way it seems your console is calling you.

Vidya Wasi

In the video, look at the road, see how the water patches repeat.

Knot Schure

Based on your comment I deduced, as did the other poster, you were another butt-hurt console fan boi.

Vidya Wasi

Assumptions, assumptions.
I don’t even own a console. PC Master Race is watching you!

Knot Schure

They are watching because I’m one of their own…

IKROWNI

I have deduced that your statement is correct I certainly do believe he is a console fan boy.

Tom

Weird, I was going to say the backgrounds look pretty good but the cars are lit wrong and ruin it a bit. It looks better without the cars there imho.

Knot Schure

I was just about to buy it, but then I read it wasn’t a ‘next, next, finish’ install…

If I wanted a gaming machine with a cut-down Pitcairn GPU and netbook CPU, I would have bought a console.

But I didn’t, and I don’t have the time to treat game setups like defusing a bomb….

Back under your bridge…

Lorfa

In the future will we be able to play GTA with google street view? : P

Phobos

If they stand still it looks very good specially with the cars, but when they start to move it all looks weird.

Rawr

Potato PC’s not allowed. You’ll need a very good rig if you want to max out the quality with this mod. Just look at the requirements on his mod page. His webpage also doesn’t re-adjust to my browser resolution so some text are cut off as well unless I full screen my browser.

You and most everyone else here seems to have incredibly low standards in terms of rendering and frametime consistency.

Hiro Tomodachi

omg that looks amazing

is4u2p

That’s damn impressive right there and I guarantee the consoles would choke hard on this mod.

IKROWNI

FireFire! They would burn through the floor faster than thermite

MatticusFinch182

The Master Race fixes another console game. Bwahahaha

andrewhahalee

Broke my game startup on the latest update. Bummer.

Wayne Gleeson

I installed the texture pack only, and by no word of a lie, i honestly cannot see any visually definable difference between it and the vanilla, apart from the branded vehicles, which is ummm interesting..

e92m3

Depending on the compression and base quality of the textures, there may be limited to no gain from the higher resolution.
texture resolution has become a buzzword.

So does anybody actually have a working version of this? Not from what I’m seeing in the comments…

e92m3

This is the first GTA V mod I’ve seen that comprehensively overhauls the visual quality in a positive way.
This one is worth a try.

That said, the framerate in the video above is often unplayable in my opinion. Way too much frametime variability and the minimums are just way too low as well. If rockstar could have thrown 4k textures into the game easily without large performance issues, they probably would have. I’m sure they explored texture resolution options comprehensively.

Materials are complex….If you go all out with 4k diffuse, 4k normal, 4k spec/gloss/roughness (arguably unnecessary, but if you’re running 1080p you’re not doing any service in the name of fidelity anyways and can’t accurately judge the importance of decent maps) … Exponentially more to deal with for the engine. I don’t think a good result (as in relatively even frametimes) with true 4k textures will be possible in GTA V for many years, even if we are talking about using nasty DXT compression and destroying normal map fidelity in the process.

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